The attendant in livery guided Violant through the halls, corridors, and stairways in the royal palace until they reached a room on the first floor. The returnee knew just too well where this place was. No wonder, had she been here already in her last lifetime. It was the waiting room of the debutantes next to Crystal Hall. Crystal Hall was the ball venue of the palace. Its name was not chosen by chance. It originated from the fact that most of the walls of Crystal Hall were replaced by big clear leaded windows with the only task of allowing the sunlight inside, for they didn’t feature any elaborate motives. The waiting room was just one wall apart from Crystal Hall and the debutantes would descend a stairway into the ball venue, of course in order according to rank and merit.

The room was filled with numerous scions of noble houses, ranking from duchies to baronetcies. Although baronets weren’t of peerage they were nonetheless regarded as part of the nobility. The young men and women all had dressed up for the occasion. Some of them were nervous, others rather calm.

Violant’s arrival didn’t remain unnoticed for long. The person who came to meet her first was in fact the one she wanted to meet the least. It was no other than her obnoxious cousin Euphemia of Nussex.

“Dearest Violant, what a great joy to see you again.” Euphemia greeted her with faked friendliness. The daughter of a marquis house had given her all for her debut. She wore a silken yellow dress with a color reminiscent of her blonde hair and was virtually laden with jewelries made of gold and silver. The most conspicuous was her lecklace sorting pearls and three chicken egg-sized diamonds. Euphemia was so extravagant that it was almost crude again. Her own mother had more style but nobody dared to tell the spoiled only-child that her getup was simply in bad taste, no matter how expensive it might’ve been.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Violant responded, no bit more honest than her opponent. “It is quite delightful that we will have our debut together, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is.” Euphemia replied while thinking the exact opposite. “Cousin Mortimer will also be present tonight, will he not?”

“Yes, both father and my brothers have come today.” the redhead informed her.

“How pleasant to hear.” a bell-like voice chimed in. “I am very happy to meet you again, Lady Violant. Allow me to express my gratitude again for your heroic deeds that saved my life.”

Euphemia turned her head in anger to see who had the audacity to join into the conversation with her cousin/love rival unasked but as soon as she became aware of the other party’s identity she couldn’t help but stay silent. The delicate cream-faced girl with flowing black hair and sparkling violet eyes who was dressed in a frilled dark blue dress superbly complimenting the colors of her hair and eyes couldn’t be anyone else but Sybil of Sulia, daughter of the famous ducal house and highest ranked debutante of the evening. The frail girl wore a modest but nonetheless eye-catching silver necklace with a whitish moonstone to adhere to the demand in the invitation letter. As chance would have it, the moonstone not only gave a wonderful contrast to the dark blue background of Sybil’s dress, no, the duchy of Sulia was – besides its hot springs – also known for a mountainside in its territory where moonstone could be found, the only place of its kind in all of Yteland.

Violant was rather pleased to meet Sybil again. The modest and thoughtful girl was very likable and she found it somehow cute how the ducal daughter tried to hide her obvious crush on Mortimer without much success. If Violant had to choose a sister-in-law, Sybil was likely the best choice. She was sickly, that was true, but Mortimer’s sister had also come to know that although the girl didn’t often leave her home because of her health issues, she used her time to help her mother with the paperwork and even established a fund to help sickly children in the duchy who had not had the luck to have born in such an affluent family like hers.

“Long time no see, Lady Sybil.” Violant replied “I am glad to see you enjoying good health. Also, you do not need to thank me every time we meet. It was a matter of course for me to save who is in distress as long as it is within my capabilities.”

Although her words were as factitious as ever when conversing with other nobles – except for her family though – there was no doubt that the message they held were true to her heart.

“It truly is a stroke of luck that we this chance to talk before entering the venue. Who knows if we would be too busy to do so later on?”

“Truer words were never spoken.” Sybil agreed “But I believe that there will be a chance to talk again later. After all, my esteemed mother wishes to personally express her gratitude for saving me to you and Lord Mortimer, and my esteemed brother does as well.”

The more Euphemia listened, the more unsightly her facial expression became. When had that vixen Violant managed to ingratiate herself with the ducal house of Sulia? What opportunity had allowed her to save someone as illustrious al Lady Sybil? She was nothing more than some uncouth devil’s spawn from the other march after all.

Euphemia’s envious thoughts came to a sudden halt when a servant in palace livery entered to announce that it was time for the debutantes to enter the ball venue. The order of entry had been set beforehand but everybody was still curious about it. Although the order was strictly determined by rank, among those of equal standing, e.g. the margravial house of Avallach and the marquis house of Nussex, it was determined by merit and importance instead.

The first to enter the venue was Sybil, no question. This time around there was no royal debuting. Prince Fulk might also only have turned sixteen recently but the royal family reached legal age and debuted at age fifteen already, a special rule that was in place to allow heirs to the throne to succeed their predecessors one year earlier than normal if necessary. Since the ducal house of Sulia was the next highest in rank, it was Sybil’s turn to go ahead.

According to peerage the next to follow were those with the rank of marquis or margrave. Euphemia hoped fervently to be able to triumph over her cousin at least here, but no, the next to be called up was Violant.

The red-haired young lady was completely unflustered when she heard her name announced by the herald.

“Her Serene Highness Lady Violant of Avallach.” he introduced.

Gracefully she stepped down the stairway leading to Crystal Hall. All eyes were gathered on her but she wasn’t the least bit nervous. She was used to this from her time as Gervase’s wife after all. While descending, she allowed her gaze to wander, inconspicuously looking for familiar faces from this or from her previous lifetime. The royal family was still absent though, for it was their privilege to enter last. Only Princess Mabel could be seen in the crowd but she was accompanying her husband after all.

As soon as Violant arrived, she was already surrounded by congratulators, all of them well known to her. That was because of the eight congratulators approaching her, three were her own family.

Another two were Barnabas of Nussex and Georgina of Herinald, the parents of Euphemia. They soon excused themselves to greet their own daughter.

The remaining was Count Alphege of Wuldington, or Uncle Ally as Violant called him, with his wife and only son.

Mildred of Oakbury was a cubby good-natured woman not unlike her husband with a head of curly copper colored hair and a charitable heart. She was the patron of Wuldington’s temples and orphanages and known to donate whenever some natural disaster or epidemic endangered the lives of her subjects.

The designated heir of the county of Wuldington, Hubert, had the same copper hair as his mother and the same brown eyes as his father but that was already all he had in common with his dumpy and chubby parents. The rather taciturn tall young man appeared to be a mix of Parcie and Mortimer instead. He was athletic and good in using his sword like the former but smart and hardworking like the latter. At the moment he served as vice-captain of the royal knight order – an unrewarding position because he got swamped with all the paperwork the captain of the knight order didn’t want to do. Said captain was currently Prince Jarm though, one of the twin princes.

The hustle and bustle came to a halt when the appearance of the royal family was announced.

The first to enter was King Baldwin who looked truly regal in his ermine-adorned royal purple gown, bearing the golden crown on his head. His once full golden blond hair had already receded but his full beard of the same color made more than up for that. He was accompanied by his main wife, Queen Berengaria.

He was then followed by his sons and their mothers according to the princes’ age. Prince Edric entered first, followed by Gervase, the twins Hal and Jarm, Humphrey, and Fulk at the end. All princes except for Edric had the same golden blond hair like their father did. Edric’s hair color originated in his mother’s thick black hair instead. Lady Mafalda had come from the merchant republic of Giudena though. Being the eldest daughter of Martuccio Lictorini, Guidena’s head merchant at that time, the witty and well-spoken lady was known as Mafalda of Giudena in Yteland instead.

Gervase was accompanied by his mother Lady Salome, a quite beautiful woman with flowing light blonde hair. She hailed from the house of Marquis Serpantine.

The twins Hal and Jarm had lost their mother during childbirth already.

Prince Humphrey and Prince Fulk were brothers and cousins at the same time. Their mothers Janet and Ethel were twin sisters hailing from the house of Count Linkan. Both of their mothers were wallflowers in noble society married off to the king for convenience. They accompanied their sons for this evening but retired quite soon afterwards.

When Violant saw Queen Berengaria with a smile full of promise while looking in her direction, she thought that this might very well become a simply unforgettable evening.